This invention relates to surgical inserters such as impactors, for aiding in installing orthopedic prostheses, and, more particularly, to easily sterilizable inserters for installing acetabular implants in the acetabular socket.
Complicated mechanical devices have crevices and recesses that are difficult, if not almost impossible to clean with ease. Devices that are not properly cleaned and sterilized run the risk of disease transfer from patient to patient following the emergence of certain “prions” that are not killed by normal hospital sterilization and need to be physically removed by washing/rinsing.
Further, in surgical procedures in which access to the treatment site is limited, it is difficult to use current solutions without subjecting the patient to repeated abrasion and tissue trauma when inserting and extracting surgical instruments.
Further, the insertion of the implant is often problematic, and the orientation of the implant, particularly any fixing holes that might be pre-drilled in the implant is often critical to minimize recovery time of the patient. Still further, once the appropriate position of the implant is selected, it is often difficult to ensure that the position does not change upon insertion of the assembly through the incision.
Still further, a surgical inserter is needed having an interface which engages with the particular prosthesis that the surgeon selects for the particular needs of the patient. Thus, for the surgeon to be able to position and insert a variety of prostheses, he must very often have a corresponding number of inserters, given that the interface is not standardized.
What is needed therefore is an inserter that is easily adjustable, disassembleable, and cleanable. Further, what is needed is an inserter that enables the surgeon to better maneuver position and install an implant in a particular angular orientation. Still further, what is needed is an inserter wherein the interface alone, and not the entire inserter, may be changed out to enable the interfacing with the most appropriate prosthesis without the need for having a special inserter on hand for each particular interface.